DeCinque Scholarship endowed at JCC

November 9, 2013

JAMESTOWN - The Jamestown Community College Foundation has announced the endowment of the Dr. Gregory T. DeCinque Unified Student Assistance Scholarship, thanks to more than $125,000 in support from local businesses, organizations, foundations and individuals.

Dr. DeCinque's career in higher education spanned 42 years, the last 19 of which were as president of Jamestown Community College. Upon his retirement in August, Dr. DeCinque had awarded degrees to nearly 14,000 students. During his tenure, he guided a significant expansion of the college's degree and certificate programs and oversaw the enhancement of the college's transferability options to include agreements with 43 four-year colleges and universities. One of his defining achievements was the opening of the $31 million renovated Cattaraugus County Campus in downtown Olean in 2003.

"I am humbled and honored by the overwhelming support that our community has shown," Dr. DeCinque said. "Every year, the USA Scholarship makes a profound difference for so many students and enables them to invest more of their own resources in the pursuit of an advanced degree. It is one of the college's most important scholarship programs."

The USA Scholarship program provides New York state resident tuition to first-time, full-time freshmen who rank in the top 20 percent of their graduating class from participating schools. USA Scholarship recipients must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA while at JCC. Since being established in 1979, the USA Scholarship program has provided $6 million to more than 3,000 JCC students.

A Dr. Gregory T. DeCinque USA Scholarship will be awarded annually to a qualified student on both the Jamestown and Cattaraugus County campuses. This year's recipients are Andrew Weber of Olean, a freshman majoring in liberal arts: mathematics and sciences on the Cattaraugus County Campus and Rachel Welch of Great Valley, a freshman engineering science major on the Jamestown Campus.

"The gifts and pledges we received during the campaign are an expression of the appreciation of both the JCC community and the community at-large for Dr. DeCinque's service as president," Moots said. "These scholarships will be a continual reminder of Dr. DeCinque's dedication to our students and faculty and to the thousands of students who passed through JCC's doors during his tenure."

Additional contributions to the DeCinque scholarship endowment are welcome. For more information, contact the JCC Foundation at 338-1057.